The Stumbler
About 'The Stumbler' As Barry turned the corner leading to the Stockroom of Cleaning Supplies, he saw this*. This thing - grabbing and pulling at his or her forehead and mouth, pulled and yanked harshly yielding nothing but discomforting cracks and small wounds of slits in the corners of its mouth and eyes. Barry stood in shock watching on as it stumbled and fell to the floor in a mess of clotted blood and pain. It wriggled, kicked and screamed at a very high pitch that left Barry covering his ears to protect his hearing. This unknown being then had a painful spasm from head to toe as it lay shaking and breathing heavily on the ground. Barry stepped backwards in his shocked state and ran down to BnHeadKuarters to report the incident immediately. However, before exiting the Cleaning Supplies area, the door was typically locked. It was a big fire door that opened outwards and Barry was throwing himself at it, pushing and kicking but nothing was working. He looked up at the electric panel and noticed the light that should be green, was red. Emergency lock down. Barry choked on saliva, sweat now appearing on his forehead and blind panics moving into his body - he turns around and looks down the mile-long Corridor toward the other exit. The light was green. His eyes widened with excitement as he charged faster than ever past multiple rooms on either side of him. He was now roughly 15 doors away from where he saw this pale monster, his strides became stronger and faster just in case it was to return... He ran towards and past the Stockroom of Cleaning Supplies. His split second vision of the collapsed 'thing' was still on the floor, he saw the arm move but it was still down on the ground. In his panicked mind, he thought thank God as he carried on pelting down the Corridor. He could make this and he knew it! He had only ran half the mile Corridor though and his heart was beating extremely fast by now. I'm invincible, he thought even though he felt like collapsing himself, but never had Barry been so randomly frightened in his life. The sound of this thing's jaw cracking, and the eyelids slicing as it pulled for no apparent reason on itself was making him feel dizzy and weak. Heart racing, mind dropping - though he kept his eyes on that little green light and pushed forward with mop-in-hand. Painfully, Barry remembered something. Only one door of every Corridor's end can be unlocked at one time. The door he had entered through had automatically locked, leaving the other end he was running towards unlocked - but if you simply just wait with your hand on the handle it will confirm your exit and open, unless you leave it untouched for a certain amount of time the door will unlock itself. The green light Barry was running towards had turned red. His rushing blood and excitement faded into a black pool of depression as he turned and saw the other door switch to the green light. Fuck! he yelled and slammed his mop down, dropping himself against the Corridor's wall with his head in his hands as he let out a burst of tears. Suddenly, the lights went out. He instantly stopped crying as he looked up from his seated position. Damnit, not got time for Bludgeon Mary, please no, no no no. He stood up in absolute darkness and frisked his 30-pocketed trousers feeling for his torch. He found it near his lower left leg, pulled it out and switched it on. Shining it down either side of the Corridor, he saw nothing. No red or green lights, too. This Corridor was completely shut off and Barry's feeling of being trapped now engulfed him further into a blind panic. The torch shined only 12 or so doors down both sides of the Corridor, not leaving him much to see at all - until he heard a strange thumping and banging sound. The sound was that of a slow pulling or dragging, firstly very quiet but secondly growing louder and closer. He had the torch shining down the way he had come from and he knew this thing was coming for him. No surprises, he knew it - his time was up. The beam of the torch shone into eventual darkness, a shaking beam due to his panic. Then, in the midst of the light, an extremely pale and disfigured creature began to emerge wobbling and throwing itself against the walls to collapsing on the ground. Barry knew it was the same thing he saw in the Stockroom. Fear completely drained him now as it wasn't just the one stumbling creature, many followed it, all throwing themselves and cracking their bones together, stiffened bones and the slicing of skin could be heard echoing down the silent Corridor. The shine of the light now displayed about 7 different 'stumblers' throttling towards Barry. He stayed still, praying to God continuously just wishing that nothing would happen to him this time. The original Stumbler was now just 3 doors away, in position of hand on head and the other in it's mouth. Pulling and lashing at it's own head as the neck and jaw cracked ruthlessly. Barry realized that these things looked more female than male, putting a spot of confusion on what normal mind he had left right now. They suddenly stopped, as if noticing Barry and wondering what he was doing. The other Stumblers stopped behind the original Stumbler and each and all of them just looking at Barry. Uhh..uhm.. Barry couldn't speak. The torchlight switched off. Within seconds, that same scream was heard but now by all of them. It was ear-splitting and so very high pitched and all Barry could see was the previous shine of the light that remained in his closed eyes, much like a camera flash. He then fell down and lay on his back as The Stumblers walked over him screaming intensely and cracking and bleeding thick clotted blood all over him. The bodies of these creatures fell on top of him, wriggling and shaking, bones loudly cracking with wet-sounds from the unhinged jaws being yanked and split. Upon Barry's back, he believed he could feel round balls of some sort - eye balls, pulled and split from the heads of these monsters. After an episode of horror, the silence returned. Safely, the lights switched on all the way down the Corridor. Barry, panting and sweating profusely looked up and around him as he lay in puzzle of tangled legs, arms and corpses. Thickened blood and eye balls, teeth and jaws had been spewed all over him. The stench was heavy and warmed, smelling of very bad breath and the rot of a human body as they were. Pushing them off and composing himself, he slightly tripped yet maintained composure over some of the corpses. He kicked one aside to grab his mop and continued on his way. I only wanted some fucking bleach. Muttered Barry as he exited the Corridor. The Stumblers will attack at any given time. Unlike the usual monsters here at The Mansion - The Stumbles are very suicidal. They will try not to hurt you but will definitely place fear into your hearts. If you happen to come across a Stumbler, shut your eyes and think happy thoughts.